


Breathing

by ShanleenKinnJaskey



Series: Poetry [34]
Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Historical RPF, Original Work
Genre: Asthma, Death, Free Verse, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Poetry, World War I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-19 09:04:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5961756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShanleenKinnJaskey/pseuds/ShanleenKinnJaskey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>i sometimes wonder what the people<br/>who died in pompeii were thinking.</p><p>choking on ash, breathing in the<br/>very thing that would kill them-<br/>oh wait. that sounds familiar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breathing

i sometimes wonder what the people  
who died in pompeii were thinking.

choking on ash, breathing in the  
very thing that would kill them-  
oh wait. that sounds familiar.

world war i: the soldiers breathing  
in mustard gas, throats burning  
as they gasp and gasp for breath  
that will never come.

(poison filling lungs as you pray  
to a god that will never deliver.)

atlas: holding the weight of the  
world on his shoulders, every breath  
more labored than the last.

(i struggle under the weight of  
expectation, wondering what  
you want- _why_  you want)

industrial revolution: children  
slogging through the streets,  
smokestacks pumping poisons into  
air and shit onto the streets.

(pumping poison, smog, _shit_  
into our days, our lives)

present day: trying hard to breathe  
as panic descends, asthma preventing  
lungs from taking in anything that  
will let you live.

(i can't breathe)


End file.
